Palestinian militants on Monday carried out their most intensive shelling of Israel since the 2014 Gaza war in retaliation for a botched cross-border commando raid, drawing Israeli air strikes against Hamas’ television station and other targets.

The flare-up, in which three Palestinian gunmen and a civilian in Israel were killed, threatened to derail efforts by the United Nations, Egypt and Qatar to broker a long-term truce and head off another major conflict in the impoverished enclave.

Hamas, Gaza’s dominant Islamist movement, and other armed factions launched more than 300 rockets or mortar bombs across the border after carrying out a surprise guided-missile attack on a bus that wounded an Israeli soldier, the military said.

Sirens in southern Israeli towns and the port of Ashkelon sent residents rushing to bomb shelters. Several homes were hit.

An Indian court has sentenced a former politician to life in prison for inciting anti-Sikh violence in riots after the 1984 assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi which claimed thousands of lives.

More than 300 women have accused Brazilian faith healer João Teixeira de Faria of sexually abusing them, according to Brazil's state media agency, citing the Department of Public Ministry of the state of Goiás.